home on wheels tour….

another great home-on-wheels tour… with a vintage airstream and a couple doing it all with 2 kids and the dogs, a true family adventure. nicki gives a run down of what life on the road with kiddos is like, the challenges, the busy schedules and home-schooling to boot. they have tons of good advice and many of her points resonated with us as well. things like… it is not a full-time vacation (read all about that here), don’t schedule too many things in advance because you will end up missing things, you cannot see everything in every place unless you stay awhile, laundry takes planning (although i can’t imagine planning for four) and people really don’t care about your rig that much.. we too thought lots would be interested, not so much. some Airstream enthusiasts were, but we almost never saw another airstream. instead people saw us as.. the really young couple on the road. (;

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1. What made you decide to go full-time in an RV?
It was a natural progression. We have moved every two years since 2005, when summer 2011 rolled around we knew we were moving and didn’t know exactly where we wanted to go. We’d already made the decision to try out homeschooling our kids, we were renting a house, Shawn works from home, and we already had an Airstream. We didn’t really have any major obstacles to hitting the road. Somehow along the way moving to a sticks and bricks house changed into moving into our Airstream. I’m not sure we ever had a “Hey, let’s hit the road and full time” moment. It was more, the opportunity was there so let’s take an extended trip and see how long it lasts.

2. What were the greatest challenges of packing and preparing your whole family (kiddos & dogs) for a life on wheels?
I know most people would say getting rid of stuff and deciding what to take. Since we moved so often we didn’t have as much extra “stuff” as most people. I do remember it took Shawn several days to get the bed of the truck situated. He had to figure out how to fit two dog crates, two blue boys, four bikes and a storage bin in the back of the truck. (We now have a bike rack for the kids bikes)

The kids had a hard time imagining how life would work on the road, they weren’t crazy about leaving the familiarity of life in our neighborhood. I think it might have been easier had we been moving to another sticks and bricks house. I think they feared the unknown of RV life.

The loss of bedroom space was another issue for them. We’d always allowed them a large amount of freedom with decorating their rooms.  Suddenly all of that was going away. We found little ways to combat this, they got to bring their bedding from home instead of me picking something that matched the trailers decor and small cork boards on the walls throughout the trailer allow them to decorate and create a little bit of “their space”.  They, naturally, had a bit of a problem picking out which toys to take.

3. What have you found hardest to have left behind?
The superficial answer, for me, would be putting my Treadle sewing machines in storage and not being able to use them. Shawn misses having a place to work on the trailer, there is no longer any way to make cosmetic changes without inconveniencing the entire family. On a deeper level, I think the entire family would say leaving Memaw.

At this point, adult friends that we have from previous residences are already accustomed to email and phone contact. I do sometimes miss what I call the incidental daily contact. The people you’d always talk to in line waiting to pick up your kids, the bank, the grocery store, etc. or the occasional invite for coffee. What I found about life on the road is that you are always being asked to tell your story to someone new, you rarely run into anyone who already knows it.

4. How long have you been on the road? and do you have a schedule?
We officially left on May 29, 2011.  As of now, 18 weeks in, we are still “newbies”. We started out with a hard schedule, due to mother nature it changed often. A flooding Missouri River and triple digits temps changed all that. Now we have a tentative and flexible schedule. We have a date we need to be somewhere but adjust our stops as needed or desired.

5. What made you choose a vintage Airstream?
When we originally bought Minerva we had no intention of hitting the road indefinitely. We were to be weekend and vacation warriors. Although I was longing for an Airstream, Shawn wasn’t as sure. So, we checked out all of the options in the travel trailer market except Airstream. Keeping in mind, although we had an Airstream Certified Service Center, there were no Airstream dealers in Oklahoma.

We had very specific needs and wants. Shawn did not want any slides. We wanted room to take our dogs with us. It needed to be affordable, we didn’t want a note on a trailer when it something we had never done. I wanted one that wouldn’t give me a headache from the “new RV” smell. Basically, we wanted to test the waters first. We started looking on Craigslist, and to my delight, Airstreams were the only ones that appealed to us in the used market. There was a nostalgic feeling looking at those 70′s interiors. It reminds me of that period in childhood when life had no apparent problems. Shawn just fell in love. He also likes that, except for a few things, he can do most of the repairs himself. Resale value and lack of depreciation were a plus as well.

Shawn says “Because they are cool”. There is also a community already in place to welcome & help you.

6. What do you know now that you wish you had known before you got started?
Flexible Schedules. Don’t promise to make birthday parties, holidays, etc as it can cause you to rush around and miss many great things.

Heat – Vintage (un-renovated) Airstreams, even with a new A/C, aren’t exactly good in full sun on days that reach 113.

Local Conditions – Check the local news for stops on your destination. We had an entire week spent in North Platte, NB for Nebraska Days where everything we had planned on doing was canceled due to flooding. We couldn’t get to our campground in Nebraska City due to the flooding in Missouri as well.

Bike Rack – We should have just spent the money in the beginning instead of waiting till we got to Montana. It would have saved us a lot of aggravation.

Laundry – Most people take for granted the ability to throw a load in the washer.  Although you can usually do all of your laundry at one time on the road, it does take some planning. With the limited amount of storage I have for dirty clothes and the number of people we having creating dirty clothes, I do laundry roughly every 2.5-3.5 days. I have to consider if I want to do it before we travel, after we arrive at a new destination, will I be able to do it at the campsite or will I have to go to a laundromat, and do I have enough cash to exchange for quarters. What I’m trying to say is that laundry is no longer a chore of opportunity since I will be gone from the trailer for 2.5-3.5 hours depending on the dryer’s efficiency and the items to be laundered. It also depends on Shawn’s work schedule and any planned activities. For most full-timers laundry is a once a week activity but not for us.

7. How are the kids adapting to full time travel?
They  miss their grandparents and occasionally will mention something they’d like to have when we have a “real” house again. As for now they are enjoying it and still look forward to doing it. We do ask them regularly how they feel about it.

As for the homeschooling, it has good and bad days. They like that school is often over after lunch. They like the freedom it allows them. I like that I can easily spot when they are having a problem with something and either Shawn or I can give them the one on one time to figure it out.

We have seen their imaginations flourish. They can’t wait to get outside and play. It is a joy to see them in the dirt playing with their toys and using their imaginations to entertain themselves. Things they took for granted in a stick house have become privileges on the road. The wii is for rainy or 95 plus degree days, we can’t even remember the last time we got the wii out. Television has become limited to rainy days or true family time with the kids. We have, at their request, family game night about once a week. We do allow them a movie in the truck on travel days.

8. What is a “typical” day like for everyone?
School days-
(Mornings must go a certain way or everything is off about the day.)

The blasted phone alarm goes off. Shawn is up first. Unless work intrudes, he takes the dogs out for the first walk of the day, makes the coffee (he is proprietary about the coffee machine…the kitchen really). While he’s out with the dogs, we get ready and unmake beds. Finally when everyone is back in the trailer, the dogs get moved into the bedroom hallway.

Now that everything is settled into daytime mode-
We have breakfast then schools starts. Work for Shawn may or may not have already started depending on his schedule.

Dog walk/School break (usually mid morning)

Lunch – at lunch we figure out what’s left to do for school

After school is done I pack away school stuff/figure out what I need for tomorrows school. Kids play until Shawn gets off work, and after work can be relaxation, errands, or an activity
Dinner
Dog walk
Family time
Getting ready for bed/ house cleaning.
While the kids are getting ready for bed I remake their beds for them and dogs get moved to the front of the trailer and fed dinner
After an hour, the dogs get another walk.
Bedtime

Friday is packing day and not a school day. Shawn’s schedule remains the same but for the kids and I this is a free day… unless something from school was unfinished. For me this is a last chance to do laundry before moving and packing away things after we have finished with them for the day. By the end of the day we try to have the television stowed away, the stabilizers raised, the water hose unhooked, bikes back on the roof rack and anything else needed to ensure we get off to an early start the next day. We aim to start hitching up on Saturday as soon as quiet hours end.

Saturday is travel day. Sunday is free day. We use this day to visit the major local attractions.

9. Best advice you would give other families considering following in your footsteps?
Research. Even if you love the first RV you step into, look at them all. Really think about how you will use the space. This will be your home.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. This can apply to so many things in full time life. Maybe I this should monogram it on a pillow or hang it on the wall. (joking)

Make small trips in your RV first, then a few bigger trips.

You won’t need half of what you think you do.

Fully weigh what you will be experiencing against what you will be leaving behind. If you can’t go a month without visiting your family, 3 months will be depressing and 6 months will excruciating.

Things that look okay on paper might not translate well to life, like traveling 350-400 miles a weekend. It is doable but exhausting when you have to get up the next day to work or teach.

This will be your “normal” life. If you are working and teaching on the road, you are NOT on vacation most of the time. We are working/teaching full-timers. There just isn’t a way to see everything at one place at one time without staying there for weeks or months. There will be many places where you just skim the surface. We look upon this as a reason to return.

We would recommend getting an honest to goodness mail service. Check out the other benefits to joining mail services companies. The one we use has heavily discounted parks.

Once on the road you need to be careful of what you buy. There is a common RV’ers rule for this “For everything that comes in, something of equal size must go out.” Our souvenirs are postcards stored in a photo album.

You will be in somewhat of a social bubble. Most of the older full-timers will tell you what a wonderful thing you are doing and how they wished they had done it. However those of our generation look at us in disbelief.

Have patience. Everyone will feel the need to express an opinion on your life. Take the good to heart and let the rest go.

It is easy to get out of touch with the rest of the world. We are not as aware of global events as we once were.

Enjoy yourself!

10. What has life on the road taught you?
More about my kids personality than I would ever have known before.
Patience.
There is no escape from problems… deal with them head on. Annoyance in a house is not such a big deal, something that bothers you in a 27×8 foot trailer is a different matter.

Sometimes you just have to stop moving and rest.

Certain time zones stink.

When we left we thought it would be the Vintage Airstream that got the attention. Most people don’t really care about your rig… except other Airstreamers. Mostly we have become known as -

The people with the big dog.
The people with the big dog in the small trailer (I’d say 90% of full-timers are in 5th wheels or motorhomes).
Occasionally we are known as the people with the big dog in the small trailer with the kids.

Listen to your elders. Some of these retired full-timers have been out there for 20 plus years. Many of them have great suggestions for places to visit. Most are willing to help with problems.

How much we enjoy going to National Parks/Monuments and taking a Ranger led tour, a family favorite.

Trying to maintain 3 blogs while teaching two kids just isn’t feasible. (Nicki)

Speak up when you need personal time. I can’t stress this enough. Shawn, the kids, and I rarely require time apart but due to the space allowed us, when we do need it, we have to speak up for it.

When repairs are started it is critical to get it done as it effects the entire trailer. A water leak, for instance, shuts down the water for the whole family. Consider the problem thoroughly before starting… is it critical or just inconvenient?

The regular things you take for granted like hair cuts, doctors visits, exchanging items from storage, the availability of RV toilet paper can effect your travel schedule.

Adjusting to the lack of “I have to be here at this time to pick up the kids. I have to take the kids to soccer, swim, baseball….etc”

Adjusting to the refrigerator size when trying to grocery shop for a family of four.

Thanks for sharing photos of your 1971 Airstream International and special thanks to Nicki for taking time out of your (very!) busy schedule to do the Q&A! Want to see more home-on-wheels tours? go here.

Filed Under: airstreams & campers
Tagged: 1971 airstream international, airstream blog, airstream tips, airstreams, campers, full time rv'ing, full-time traveling, home on wheels, rv blog, rv tips, vintage airstream, vintage airstream blog *please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here. Comment »

the american dream?

what is the american dream? who is john galt? it really is the unanswerable question because the answers are wide and many. the old standard was a house, white picket fence, 2 kids, a dog, and a steady 9 to 5. doesn’t really fit everyone anymore (not that it ever truly did) and within the current economy doesn’t even seem feasible sometimes. main point being, the american dream is as open to interpretation and dreaming as each person is individual.

for us, when we got married, we didn’t have a set dream in mind, we just lived life and went where the curves took us, which included buying a house, selling a house, renting, selling it all (almost), and trucking down the road in an airstream full-time. the first time we bought a house we learned more than a million books could have taught us.. about home ownership, commitment, mortgages, mortgages + marriage, and when we sold that house it took 7 full years to be ready to take the plunge again. seven. full. years. with a huge chunk of wanderlust and no roots whatsoever thrown in the mix as well.

we’re a combo platter of planning and not planning. we planned to leave-it-all, hit the road, live one version of the american dream of traveling cross-country in a travel trailer, an airstream specifically. ae didn’t know for how long, what it would be like, feel like, how it would change us or not. we planned to go and do but didn’t plot every thing. we wanted warm(ish) weather and to see whatever popped up in our path. we dreamed of finding a new spot to call home so we could travel indefinitely from year to year when the weather was welcoming.

we had ideas of what all we would see and where we would go in our first year.. we’ve seen some, missed some, have tons left, we knew one year would never do it and felt content all along that the open road would be ready & waiting each and every time we were ready to hitch little eddie on the yeti and take off. we hoped to fall in love with somewhere that inspired us to stay and play and work while dreaming of the next big adventure in airstream living. we imagined finding a little slice of land and parking eddie on it and trying a whole new kind of stay-put living, this is what we imagined but didn’t know. what we did do was meander & explore, we visited & learned, we learned so much that we didn’t know about different parts of the u.s. and never knew if the next spot we drove through was going to be that little slice of heaven that made us say, this.. is it! to not know where you might lay down roots next is exhilarating and nerve racking all at once.

we worked very hard and saved and saved, and saved to go on this big adventure. we primarily put our earnings on hold as most of our work involves being somewhere not rolling down the highway. this meant that our full-time was to be for a definite amount of time, we just had no idea what that was. Aayear? 6 months? 2 years? full-time, as we have experienced it..and have witnessed via numerous travelers…is more of a gone all winter somewhere (because you live somewhere frosty cold) or gone all summer/spring (because you live somewhere hot.. or because you can easily go anywhere during these seasons) than it is truly moving down the road 12 months a year, never staying put anywhere. this is where our dream of finding that new special spot came into play, a place we could live and work and save some more, allowing warm weather to be the beacon light showing us the way to all still left unseen.

we are very, very excited that our loosely imagined and hopeful idea of just the right place practically jumped out and bit us! we had imagined all along a little piece of land for us and eddie and another something new.. when a teeny tiny house, in a town less than a square mile (a pint-sized town on the edge of denver), stole our hearts and made us more ready than ever to take on the moniker… home-owner once again.

we’re not done traveling, we have loads of amazing stuff from the last few weeks that we haven’t been able to squeeze in yet..and we have so much left to share about traveling, simple living, downsizing, and our latest venture of how to own small and keep the dream of travel alive & well. this blog will continue to be all about our adventures & roadtrips, airstreams, plus lots of love for our new home base.. denver. *camp1899* will chronicle our before, during & after of our new home remodel, life with me & him.. in an only slightly bigger space than our little airstream…from 175 sq. feet to 528 sq. feet… we’re so excited, thanks for following along with us!!

Filed Under: everyday // bits & pieces
Tagged: airstream, full time rv'ing, home ownership, pie in the sky, the american dream, travel, travel shoptalk, who is john galt *please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here. Comment »

blazing a trail

i recently heard the phrase.. “there are a lot of ways to blaze a trail, adventure comes in all shapes and sizes.” traveling the u.s. and leaving brick & mortar life behind for a stint is an adventure for sure, and for us it is one that we planned and dreamed of for awhile before launching this year. i know lots of you out there dream of doing the exact same thing. it has taught us more in the past 6 months than we would have learned in years. we’ve learned more about what we like and don’t like, what thrills us in a new place and what makes us want to keep on moving. we’ve learned so much about the united states that we never, ever imagined. much of what we have found has been disappointing and sad, like the loss of middle america, and some of what we have found has been amazing. with this blog we are sharing, in as unbiased a way as possible, what we’ve learned in hopes that those of you planning your own dream getaway will be saved some unnecessary routes and at the same time be pointed directly to what will give you the most satisfaction.

what I know for sure it that as the phrase says..adventure comes in all shapes & sizes..is absolutely true. uou can have huge adventure without ever leaving where you are right now. you can kick the bad boyfriend to the curb and demand better, you can start your own etsy shop, cut your hair short that you’ve worn long your whole life (big! adventure) try spicy thai food when you’re normally a spaghetti-only person. little adventures are what really make up life. yes, the big things make for big outcomes, but big things (like trips across the u.s.) are only for x amount of time and it’s all concentrated, whereas little things all the time make up a full life.  sometimes big changes are both fun and necessary but too often we discount what the little things will do for us in the long haul. treat yourself to a cafe au lait in the morning, take the time to make it and enjoy it instead of whatever is fastest and easiest, cultivate new friends, go to the free day at the museum, devote more time to your hobbies, get a dog or a cat, take walks in the evening. all of these “little” things are what make day-to-day life go round and round, remind yourself that anything out of your norm is an adventure. try doing the things that in the moment you brush off for another day. have little adventures, eat lunch outside, have breakfast for dinner, all while you plot & plan for the big adventures. but today and each day forward.. enjoy the things that in the end make life that much sweeter… all from where you are right now.

Filed Under: airstreams & campers
Tagged: adventure, airstream, full time rv'ing, full time travel, travel, travel shoptalk *please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here. Comment »

full-time vs. vacation

one of the most common thoughts about us (or anyone traveling full-time) is that it’s just one big long vacation. this is absolutely not true, for us. if you are independently wealthy and traveling with nary a care in the world or retired and well-set for the rest of your life, then for the most part it probably feels a lot like vacation, otherwise…full-time travel is not a full time vacation. either you are working on the road and thereby are traveling and living a mobile life but one with work in tow or you are like us, living and doing and seeing and spending your savings to do so. on a vacation you go and see and do and spend your savings….for a week, two at most. then you go home and go back to work and fill the penny jar back up.

oh, and when you go for that week or two (unless you’re a total work-goes-with-me-everywhere type) you’re carefree. you don’t take the bills with you, you don’t do laundry, go to the grocery store, take out the garbage, clean daily, wash your car, wash your “house”, do home maintenance and all the other things that makes the life wheel go round and round. full time travel requires all of this and then some.

people say oh, you’re so lucky, you just travel and can do anything and have not a care in the world. we wish. yes, we are traveling and doing what a lot of people dream about. yes, we are not working at a 9-5 job. yes, we have flexibility in our schedule. yes, yes, yes. we also do all of the above listed chores and constantly have errands (just like the rest of the world), we aren’t working full-time (although the blog substitutes for mine and is time consuming just like a job..thank goodness i love it!), but not working full-time means full-time spending so that is nothing like a vacation mentality.. we have to think of our money and budget constantly. we have more home and car repairs than average because the wear and tear is faster from being constantly on the move.

the bottom line is, it isn’t a vacation. we are sharing this because if you’re thinking of getting “out there” these are major things to think about. every situation is different. if you’re young and wanting to do this you will have many similar experiences, mainly because, chances are you aren’t doing this forever. you will have to stop and settle and work, etc..(unless you are working on the road which we have already stated is completely different…although the vacation vs. full-time living still applies) if you are going to travel “full-time” but have a home base, this makes things somewhat easier in that you have a place to bounce back to and possibly stop for more pennies in the bank, but if you are uprooting completely like we did, you will have to have the consideration of where will you stop when you need to, even if for only a few months. this can be much harder than it sounds depending on your criteria or super easy if you have simple needs and expectations.

this is the experience of a lifetime and we are very lucky. our planning, saving and scheming is allowing us to do something few go out and do. we get to see lots of things and some of them are amazing and lots i now know i could have skipped forever without missing a beat. we have so many fun days and moments but days that feel just like we’re on vacay…. not so many. it’s reality of life on the road. not the princess version. so before you say to someone, what do you have to worry about or you’re life is so easy, remember life on the road is still life, with all the ups & downs. real expectations will make your travels a thousand times more rewarding.

Filed Under: airstreams & campers
Tagged: airstream, airstream blog, full time rv'ing, full time travel, rv blog, travel, travel blog, travel shoptalk *please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here. Comment »